~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~Miss Ruby was born in the Cole Springs community near Tanglewood, in a house, the main room of which was of huge hewn logs. She married Robert Lee Vance in August of 1930, and they had three children -- Mary Elizabeth, Robert Lee, and Edmund Neil. She was a member of Lexington United Methodist Church, Lee County Historical Association, Lee County Heritage Society, and Pioneer Village Log Cabins Association. She and her husband received the outstanding citizens award in 1982.

Miss Ruby served as Assistant Editor for Volume I of A History of Lee County, Texas which was published in 1974. She spent innumerable hours researching and documenting the history of Lee County, as well as that of her own family. The legacy she created for each of us by her unselfish devotion to the preservation of the stories of all of our ancestors is invaluable.

A family friend once wrote of her that . . . "I first met Miss Ruby at church and was struck by her posture, erect and commanding. She's a tall woman for her age group, slim and appears even taller by virtue of her stance. She is firm in her handshake and direct of gaze. Lying while under that gaze would be impossible. . . . She and her kind are a disappearing breed -- women of enormous dignity with unquestioned integrity, who do what they believe is right every day of their lives. They have set the moral tone for generations of younger peers in towns and cities all over the South. They simply don't seem to be making Miss Rubys anymore."~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~